The UK’s largest queer film event returns to the BFI Southbank (and to the BFI Player online) for its 39th edition from March 19-30. This year, the opening night gala boasts the international premiere of Andrew Ahn’s The Wedding Banquet, starring Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, Youn Yuh-jung and more. The closing night gala will give Night Stage – the new erotic thriller from award-winning writer-directors Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon – its UK premiere. In between, Shatara Michelle Ford’s Dreams In Nightmares, which follows three Black queer femmes on a road trip across the US midwest, will also have its UK premiere at the festival in a special presentation.
The features programme is split into three thematic strands. Hearts features the likes of Divine Sung’s coming-of-age drama Summer’s Camera and the recently restored 1965 college drama ‘Winter Kept Us Warm’. Bodies will showcase queer crime thriller Ponyboi, Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s directorial adaptation of Deborah Levy’s bestseller Hot Milk, and more, while Minds will include Laurie Townshend’s intimate documentary A Mother Apart and Sally!, a tribute to lesbian activist Sally Gearhart. There’ll also be a packed shorts programme, plus a chance to revisit some of the best queer films from the last 12 months in the Best of Year strand.
Elsewhere, cinephiles can expect a host of expanded-reality works, panels, Q&As and after-hours events. Check the BFI website for the full schedule.
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